Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr., enlisting a cadre of legislators, wants Amtrak to get on board with the long-awaited plan to bring Metro-North service to the East Bronx, which was supposed to have begun in April.

In a joint news conference with Westchester County Executive George Latimer, given the mutually beneficial interest in ushering more Metro-North service to the East Bronx, Diaz labeled Amtrak a Scrooge for the holdup.

“This is not a new idea,” said Diaz of the project. “This is an idea that’s been kicked around for the better half of the last three decades. We have done scoping sessions, they’ve been well-attended. Everyone knows that this is a good idea for commuters.”

The project, dubbed Penn Station Access, would divert the new trains to Penn Station instead of Grand Central Terminal, laying them on existing Amtrak lines via the Hell’s Gate line. Co-Op City, Morris Park, Parkchester and Hunts Point sections of the Bronx would each receive a station. Talked about for years, the plan would solve the “transit desert” that is the East Bronx. It also stands at raising property values across the corridor, according to officials.

For Diaz, the completion or even start of the project would add another feather in his cap as his quest for New York City mayor gets underway. Diaz, who once touted the Kingsbridge National Ice Center that’s been drastically delayed, appears to pivot, relying on a project that doesn’t teeter towards derailment. Asked if he worried the Metro-North project would dissolve, Diaz bluntly said, “I’m not worried.”

The billion dollar plan, where the MTA currently has allocated $695 million with remainder to be allocated at a future date, has stalled since much of it hinges largely on Amtrak, which owns the tracks. Negotiations between Amtrak and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) have stalled over the assignment of expenses related to the project.

“Every time they come to the table it’s something else,” Diaz told the Norwood News. “All they do is tell the media, ‘well we’re working on this, we’re working this,’ but what they’re not telling folks is that behind closed doors once MTA gives a little bit and gives them a little bit more they always ask for more.”

Diaz pointed to a small bridge at Bronxdale and East Tremont avenues as one example of Amtrak’s grab for more MTA-funded projects.

“That bridge has to be redone with or without those four Metro-North stations. And yet when MTA who is in negotiations with them, they want to go and pay for a portion of that bridge, Amtrak now says, ‘No you got to pay 100 percent of the bridge,” said Diaz. “So that is not fair.”

Assemblywoman Nathalia Fernandez, whose 80th Assembly District stretches from Norwood to Morris Park, said “enough is enough.”

Even if Amtrak sought to advance the project, the plan can’t proceed until the completion of East Side Access plan that would build a terminal for Long Island Rail Road trains at Grand Central Terminal. Without the spaces at Grand Central Terminal, LIRR can’t move its trains out of Penn Station.

In a statement recently given, Amtrak said the agency and “MTA executives have met frequently in recent months to try to reach agreement on a number of key issues regarding design, construction and ultimately train operation of this project, in order to ensure that the proposed expansion of Metro-North service does not adversely impact Amtrak intercity passenger rail operation, which will see a significant expansion in 2021 with the introduction of expanded Acela Express service between New York and Boston.”